The present invention relates to a striker of a vehicle door latch device and a manufacturing method thereof.
The conventional and typical striker which is engaged with a latch of a door latch device to keep a vehicle door in the closed state, comprises, a metal base, and a U-shaped metal rod fixed to the base by caulking work or the like. The diameter of the metal rod is generally about 7 mm. A rod thinner than that of 7 mm brings insufficiency in strength of the striker, and a rod thicker than that of 7 mm makes the latch which has an engaging recess to be engaged with the rod large-sized. The large sized latch requires a large and heavy housing of the door latch device.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,917, a striker having a U-shaped reinforced metal rod is described. The reinforced rod comprises an engaging leg part with a normal diameter which is engageable with the latch, a support leg part with a large diameter which is disengageable with the latch, and a large diameter connecting part which connects the respective outsides of the engaging leg part and the support leg part. The reinforced metal rod has succeeded in improvement of the strength of the striker without making the latch large-sized.
However, in the case of the above described reinforced rod, the manufacturing cost is high. In the case of the normal type striker made of a linear rod which has the same diameter from beginning to end, it can easily be formed in such a way where a linear rod is bent and shaped like a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d, and after that, one pair of ends are fixed to the base by caulking work or the like, and therefore, the manufacturing cost is low. But in the case of the reinforced type striker, it is difficult to form that by a linear rod which has the same diameter from beginning to end, and the number of manufacturing processes is increased, and the cost rising is inevitable.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a striker which has a reinforced type rod, and which can easily be manufactured.